Align your life with God's will, I wish it were really that simple, don't you? It's something I have personally pondered and wrestled with for most of my life. Of course, I'm not going to pretend to claim I have solved this puzzle, nor will I even begin to suggest that I can tell you God's thoughts, but I can share what I have experienced and learned throughout my own walk with Christ. We'll explore the idea of discerning (figuring out) God's will more throughout this month as part of the Year of Listening Up #YLU series. I, of course, welcome your thoughts observations and the sharing of your own experiences. Please share in the comments of this post or send me a message.

Find God's Will In The Way He Has Ordered Your Life

Consider Key Moments. Some call them defining moments or turning points. Some refer to them as being pivotal. Whatever your chosen label, they are key to building you. I like to think of them as moments in which the Potter has pressed his thumb a bit harder than normal, or has finely tuned a section of his masterpiece. They are the times that standout. Stories you always tell. What has influenced how you live your life? They are good moments, bad times, seasons of joy, doubt, remorse, laughter, sorrow... the whole kit and kaboodle. Think about those. If it helps, write them down (I did, and it turned into a book!) Consider The Times You've Felt Fulfilled and/or Significant. We have all been spiritually gifted in different ways and are restless until we start using those gifts in ways God has designed for us. For me, it came after having published my first book, Baseball in Fort Wayne. While doing signings and maintaining a blog related to the book, I became a resource for many people who were looking for information about baseball heritage in and around Fort Wayne, Indiana. In many cases, I was able to help them find information about and photographs of fathers, uncles, and other relatives that had been believed to have been lost to time. In a weird sense of the manner, it was helping people find a missing piece of themselves and it made me feel valued and significant. That's when I knew I was in some sort of zone that I was created to do. Look For Interconnections. Any kid who has ever opened a pack of trading cards knows there is an instant process of sorting from the moment the seal is broken. Let's stay on the baseball theme for a moment and consider baseball cards. In the simplest case, you might open the card pack and sort through each one, putting those you already have on the bottom of the stack and those you don't already have on the top. As a kid, I sorted the whole collection of cards every way possible... teams, years, type, player position, mustache or no, and according to many other means. It was fun for me to look at the interconnections of styles, looks, player uniforms, and more. We can sort our lives in much the same way. Go over those key moments and think about the fulfillment you gained. Any themes that start to rise to the top? In my case, I found writing and service to others by helping them find their own fulfillment to be key interconnected themes in my life. There are many others, but they are more along the lines being the thread that is woven into my life rather than the actual fabric itself.

How Has God's Will Been Inserted In Your Life?

If it helps, think of your life and the key events of it in the order in which they happened - chronologically. Can you find areas where one event built upon another? Can you see how one thing prepared you for one that would happen later? I regularly look back at my life and life events and am amazed when I realize a season of preparation because I didn't know I was being prepared at that time. Yet God, in his infinite wisdom did.

Putting God's Will To Work In Your Life

In the Year of Listening Up, so far we have explored Making Yourself Available to God and knowing that You Belong on the Field. Hopefully you have seen that God has been lovingly preparing you for your entire life, for your life that is yet to come both here on earth and in eternity. Hopefully you are therefore open to his prompting and know that you are qualified (Colossians 1:12). This exercise was designed to help you discover your position or role on the field in the grander scheme of doing some amazing kingdom building work. In my case, I considered the recurring theme of writing, found that I was able to connect with and help others through a natural love of history and desire to help others get healing, fulfillment and/or gain an awareness of their own significance. And now, please tell me about you! We're on this path together.